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Ancelotti: Tired Kroos will play

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti insists Toni Kroos will play on Saturday despite the midfielder's claims he is tired.

Published

28 November 2014

The Germany international has spoken of his fatigue having featured throughout the second half of last term for former club Bayern Munich, before playing at the World Cup and becoming a regular at the Santiago Bernabeu since his close-season arrival.

However, while acknowledging the wariness of his players, Ancelotti is not prepared to rotate for this weekend's clash with Malaga as Real eye a club-record 16th win in a row.

"I see the tiredness of the team," he said on Friday. "They have recovered very well. We will do some rotations next week in the cup match [against Cornella].

"Tomorrow we need [Kroos], but he may rest next week

"We have [Asier] Illarramendi to replace Kroos now he has come back from an injury, and he played very well against Basel [in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday].

"We will have no problem swapping Kroos for Illarramendi."

Sami Khedira remains unavailable for selection due to a knee injury, but Ancelotti is adamant that he would like to see the World Cup winner stay at the club beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of the season.

"Khedira is still not ready to play, he needs some more days to work on his fitness," the Italian said. "I think he will be ready next week.

"The will of the club is to extend his contract. We need him, I have great confidence in Khedira.